The Sustainable Preservation Initiative has launched its first crowdfunding campaign on Indiegogo.com, an online platform where people can create fundraising campaigns to tell their story and get the word out about their important mission. We have had great success in empowering entrepreneurs, creating jobs, and preserving cultural heritage. Now we want to do it at more sites and let everyone know about our new paradigm that saves sites and transforms lives. Crowdfunding offers the opportunity to do both with a brand new audience as of yet unfamiliar with SPI.Our Mission: To alleviate poverty through economic development in and save the sites of Bandurria, Peru, and Chotuna – Chornancap, Peru.Our Funding Goal: $49,000

Bandurria

Pyramids older than those of ancient Egypt still stand at the archaeological site of Bandurria, where excavations have also uncovered ancient homes and a cemetery that belonged to a complex society that marks the origins of civilization in the Andes. However, alongside this rich cultural heritage is a community living far below the poverty line, with no running water or electricity.

Our project aims to alleviate this poverty by empowering local entrepreneurs in the community. It will construct a communal artisan and visitor center where local residents can produce and sell their traditional reed and rush handicrafts and train future artisans, creating more local jobs in the community. The project includes a store for these handicrafts, a snack bar, and clean toilets for tourists. In addition, our project will provide the only source of potable water and electricity available to the community.

Chotuna – Chornancap

The archaeological site of Chotuna – Chornancap is a 235-acre monumental temple and pyramid complex where several remarkable, one-of-a-kind ancient royal tombs have been discovered (See National Geographic article here). Similar to Bandurria, however, the community living near the site is very poor. There are few jobs, little income and no opportunity to escape this cycle of poverty. Our project invests in local textile, metal embossing, and gourd artisans, funding the construction of a facility for artisan training and production and a sales area for their work at the site. It also includes a picnic area and snack bar to generate additional revenue for the community. Our funding will also build a store and showroom at a major museum (Museo Bruning) for these handicrafts in the nearby city of Lambayeque where guidebooks and brochures for the Chotuna site will also be available.Help us save sites and transform lives! Click here to make a tax-deductible contribution at indiegogo today and spread the word by liking our campaign on Facebook, posting about our crowdfunding campaign on your own Facebook page, retweeting us on Twitter, or pinning our project video on Pinterest!

Ancient monumental architecture at the archaeological site of Bandurria, Peru, site of one of two new SPI “People Not Stones” projects. By investing in local businesses in artisanal and touristic development, our project will create jobs, bring sustainable income to the community, AND preserve its cultural heritage.

Panoramic view of Bandurria, Peru, an archaeological site with some of the earliest monumental architecture of the Americas: four pyramids rising to heights of 26 – 40 feet that are nearly 5,500 years old. It is also home to an impoverished community of 23 families. We are happy to announce that SPI’s Board of Directors just approved a proposal for a new SPI project at the site! Stay tuned for more details!

Jose Canziani, a well-known architect and town planner who is collaborating with the Sustainable Preservation Initiative, recently published the second edition of his book “Ciudad y territorio de los andes, contribuciones a la historia del urbanismo prehispánico” (City and territory of the Andes, contributions to the history of pre-Hispanic urbanism). A monumental work, this book covers more than five thousand years of pre-Hispanic history in Peru.

Today, Canziani leads two large architectural projects that promote SPI. Not only is he designing the entrance and site museum for San José de Moro, but also designing an artisan barrio and deliniating the borders of the archaeological and ecological spaces at the site of Bandurria, north of Lima.